A groundbreaking satellite called FireSat, designed to combat wildfires, has officially made contact with Earth.
The first of more than 50 satellites in the FireSat constellation successfully launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-13 mission.
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This constellation will leverage artificial intelligence to track and detect wildfires as small as a classroom (approximately 5×5 meters), helping emergency responders act more quickly and prevent devastating fires from spreading.
FireSat’s mission aims to revolutionize the way wildfires are detected and fought, according to Google.
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Currently, authorities rely on low-resolution satellite imagery, which is only updated a few times per day, often too late to stop fires before they cause widespread destruction. But FireSat promises to fill this gap with high-resolution imagery, updated every 20 minutes on a global scale.
This new system will allow for quicker response times and more precise tracking of wildfires in their early stages.
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The development of FireSat is a collaboration involving Google Research, Muon Space, Earth Fire Alliance, the Moore Foundation, and wildfire authorities, among others.
The project’s funding, which includes $13 million from Google.org through its AI Collaborative: Wildfires initiative, is aimed at reducing the devastating impact of wildfires on communities, the environment, and the economy.
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